 Third edition: “A description of the geography, geology, climate, productions of the country, and the numbers, manners, and customs of the natives.” The Rev. Samuel Parker (1779–1866) accompanied a fur-trading party west into what was then known as either Oregon Country or the Columbia District, under the sponsorship of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. Here he describes the voyage (including a brief mention of the Mormons in Missouri), the region's natural history, and the degrees of interest in Christianity expressed by the Native Americans his party encountered — which last was his primary focus.

The volume opens with anoversized, folding map, engraved by M.M. Peabody, which Graff describes as “the earliest map of the Oregon interior with a pretense to accuracy”; includes an account of Parker'svoyage to Hawaii and Tahiti; and closes with avocabulary of Indian languages (Nez Perce, Klicatat, Calapooa, and Chenook). The plate depicts “Basaltic Formations on the Columbia River.”

 Brimming with information on literary and other association information. Old Manor House (Claverton) and Kingston House (Bradford-on-Avon) are illustrated, the latter by atipped-in photograph. The eleven leaves of advertisements at the rear are entirely for businesses in Bath.

 Pfeiffer's Reise nach dem skandinavischen Norden und der Insel Island im Jahre 1845, translated into English by Anne Charlotte Fenimore Cooper (called "Charley"), one of James Fenimore Cooper's daughters. Pfeiffer was a careful and keen observer in addition to being a dauntlessly independent traveller, though possibly overmuch preoccupied with Germanic upper-middle-class standards of housekeeping (she seems to have been shocked anew upon each fresh discovery that peasants live in small, dirty homes and eat unappetizing food). Her experiences as a solo woman traveller, not overly wealthy, make for engrossing reading.

This first American printing followed a London edition of the same year and was part of Putnam's "Library for the People."

 Curiously enough, the dedicatee of this work, Caspar Plautius, is certainly also its author, writing under the pseudonym of Honorius Philoponus. Plautius was abbot of Seitenstetten in Lower Austria, and no doubt wrote as a compliment to a fellow Benedictine: Bernard Buil or Boyl of Montserrat, appointed by the pope vicar general of the Indies, who, with others of the order, accompanied Columbus on his second voyage as missionaries. In the style of a medieval legendary, Nova typis transacta navigatio novi orbis Indiae occidentalis relates first the westward voyage of St. Brendan, then the exploits of the Boyl and his fellow monks, including some description of the customs of the American native peoples they met, with their lands, their agriculture, their feast customs, et al. Boyl’s missionary enterprise failed, and sadly he is now only remembered for his mordant criticism of Columbus.

This book bears an ornate, emblematic engraved title-page, with portraits of St. Brendan and Boyl and more, and no fewer than 18 leaf-filling plates by Wolfgang Kilian. These plates, which mixfancy and realism in entirely engaging ways, include a portrait of Columbus, a scene of St. Brendan celebrating mass on the back of a whale, botanical images of the marvelous Peruvian potato, and numerous views of the missionaries’interaction with the natives, some friendly, and some not—the unfriendliest being notably violent and gory. Also, on p. 35–36 is given an example of purportednative American music, with both words and notation. This copy is one (probably the first) of two states of this sole edition (with only three leaves in the preliminaries), without the additional foldout plate found in some copies.

Binding: Contemporary speckled calf, spine gilt-extra, with a red leather title label. Red, blue, yellow, and green endpapers. All edges speckled red. (Our image in this early "edition" of our description is a bit distorted; we expect to fix that, before general publication.)

 Alden & Landis, European Americana, 621/100; Sabin 63367; Palau 224762. Binding as above and shown at left (distortion noted), chipped on corners and at head and foot of spine. Small wormholes visible on inside of covers, running into margins of pages and plates, and a few closed tears, neither affecting print or plates. Engraved title remounted. Small stains, light spots of waterstaining, and light soiling. A very covetable illustrated Americanum of the early 17th century, in an enjoyable copy. (8281)

 The author of several extremely popular and well received histories, including The History of the Conquest of Mexico and The History of the Conquest of Peru, sends Fay a letter received from Julius Herrmann Eberty who had translated Prescott's Peru into German and asks Fay to comply with the German’s request. Prescott then goes on to discuss the various translations of his Mexico into Spanish and French.

 Nikolai Mikhailovich Przheval’skii (1839–88) was a Russian geographer and explorer. His expeditionsextensively contributed to Europe’s knowledge of Central Asia and advanced the study of the region’s geography, fauna, and flora, earning him the Founder’s Gold Medal from the Royal Geographical Society in 1879, as well as a breed of horse named in his honor.

In his second expedition to Central Asia (1876–77), documented here, Przheval’skii traveled through Kulja, today called Yining, to Lop Nur, although the ultimate goal of reaching Lhasa was not achieved due to an illness and worsening relations with China. For this first English edition, English explorer Edward Delmar Morgan translated the account of the trek and Thomas Douglas Forsyth provided an introduction. The volume includestwo color folding maps; the larger shows Przheval’skii’s journey through South Asia in 1877 and the smaller one depicts the “comparison between Chinese and Prejevalsky’s geography from tracings by Baron Richthofen.”

Evidence of Readership: On the title-page, beside the author’s name, “London 5/11/88 — Telegram death of Col. Prejevalsky while on expedition to Thibet.” Occasionally, an inked or penciled mark or number in a margin.

Provenance: On verso of title-page, signature of M. Holzmann and (in a different hand) “C.J.M. 5944.” Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

 NSTC 0618155. Publisher’s brown cloth with gilt lettering to spine and minimal black decoration; light rubbing with a bit of unobtrusive spotting, corners a little bumped and a sliver of loss to spine-head. Finger smudges to front free endpaper, three small tears along folds to largest folding map. An interesting and important expedition; a copy complete with the colored maps. (37867)

 First edition: Baron du Reuilly's account of his travels in the Black Sea area, focussed primarily on trade and commerce but including illustrated chapters on coins, medallions, and antiquities as well as general descriptions of the area and people. In addition to the eight total oversized folding plates (two maps, three plates, and three charts), the work is illustrated with six chapter head vignettes designed and engraved by J. Duplessi Bertaux; the large map of the Crimea was designed by J.B. Poirson and engraved by P.F. Tardieu.

 Not in Howgego; not in Goldsmiths'-Kress. Period-style quarter calf and marbled paper–covered boards, spine with gilt-stamped leather title and author labels and blind-tooled floral decorations in compartments. Half-title and title-page with institutional rubber-stamps dated 1879; half-title with upper and lower margins cut away and later repaired, inner margin reinforced. Pages and plates with
light to moderate foxing; a few pencilled English translations of obscure words. Large map with short tear from inner margin, barely extending into image. (24309)

 An important, classic, and much-reprinted history, here in the fourth British edition. Robertson became the principal of the University of Edinburgh in 1762 and was appointed royal historiographer of Scotland in 1764. The first eight books of his History of America, which are those presented here in three volumes, were first published in 1777 and deal with the history of the Spanish colonies. This text containsfour large engraved maps of the Gulf of Mexico and countries adjacent, South America, Panama to Guayquil, and Mexico or New
Spain, all by Thomas Kitchin, the hydrographer to the king of England.

 First American edition of the brothers Robertson's wonderful account of their travels in South America culminating in their arrival in Paraguay and an extended residence there. They also recount the efforts to emancipate the various South American regions from Spanish control, compare and contrast Portuguese and Spanish America, describe flora and fauna, discuss native populations, etc. The preliminary leaves of advertisements for other books from the same publishers have their own additional interest.

 American Imprints 52683; Sabin 71961. This edition not in Palau. Publisher's pebbled brown cloth bindings: black tape at top of one spine and onto the covers. Bindings show modest wear, publisher's paper spine labels slightly chipped; text blocks slightly skewed in bindings and light waterstaining in lower inner margins of vol. I. Exsocial club library: 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings. (28891)

 First American edition of the brothers Roberston's classic account of crazy Dr. Francia and the constant fear that pervaded daily life in Paraguay during his insane dictatorship. As the title makes clear, this is a sequel to the brothers' earlier work.

Binding: Publisher's dark red ribbon-embossed cloth of an abstract pattern on a textured (pebbled) background not found in Krupp's Bookcloth in England and America, 1823–50.

 American Imprints 58260; Sabin 71962. This edition not in Palau. Bindings as above: black tape at top of spines and onto the covers. Bindings show modest wear; publisher's paper spine labels slightly chipped and text blocks slightly skewed in bindings. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate, call number on endpaper, pressure-stamp on title-page, no other markings. (28890)

 Attractively bound collection of the first editions of these four humorous works written in thick Derbyshire dialect (the first sentence here reads “Frend, ah gey thee my hond, ah dunna mene tow fingers, bur a gud grip, az tha'll feel tinglin e aw thy veins”). Three of the pieces include glossaries of some of the more opaque terms. Two of the essays recountvisits to the extensive and interesting Midland Counties Fine Arts and Industrial Exhibition of 1870, and the final entry features a lengthy appendix offering a more serious look atMatlock-Bank, its hydropathic establishments, and its other landmarks, this in standard English. Mr. Smedley's Hydropathic Establishment, referenced in the text, is the first business appearing in the subsequent advertisement section, which is extensive, evocative, and containsmany ads embellished with little recommendations (by “Twitcher”?) in Darbyshire doggerel.

The author, who spent most of his life in Derby, was a sculptor as well as a Derbyshire historian, and he appears to have supplied theoriginal illustrations here himself. The two pairs of plates (one lithographed, one steel-engraved) are done in notably different styles — we suspect that two different engravers worked from Robinson's sketches. Robinson wrote one additional Twitcher piece in 1881, describing a visit to the Royal Agricultural Show, not included in this gathering.

All the Twitcher books are now scarce: WorldCat finds very few U.K. holdings of these titles and virtually no U.S.

Salt, Henry. A voyage to Abyssinia, and travels into the interior of that country, executed under the orders of the British government, in the years
1809 and 1810; in which are included, an account of the Portuguese settlements on the east coast of Africa .... Philadelphia: M. Carey; Boston: Wells & Lilly (pr. by Lydia R. Bailey), 1816. 8vo (23.5 cm, 9.25"). 24, 454 pp.; fold. map.,
illus. $1250.00

 First U.S. edition and printed by Lydia Bailey, following the London first of 1814. Salt, a British traveller and Egyptologist, first visited Ethiopia in 1805, and returned in 1809 on a diplomatic mission intended to promote ties between the British government and the Emperor of Abyssinia. The Voyage gives Salt’s observations of Ethiopian customs, manners, dress, cuisine, and music, along with the factual details of his diplomatic achievements — or lack thereof, in terms of concrete agreements — followed by an appendix comparing vocabulary words from various languages spoken along “the Coast of Africa, from Mosambique to the borders of Egypt, with a few others spoken in the Interior of that Continent” (p. 395).

This is an untrimmed copy in original boards, with 24 pages of advertising for Carey publications bound in at the front of the volume. The preliminary map, engraved by John Bower, has hand-colored border lines; this American edition does not call for the plates found in the English first, but does include in-text depictions of several “Ethiopic inscriptions.”

 Sánchez Valverde was the first writer born in Santo Domingo to publish a book. In fact he published several, but all agree his most important is his Idea del valor de la isla Española. In it he writes of the entire island of Hispaniola, both the Spanish portion and the French. He surveys the natural history, the crops, the people, the slaves, the climate, the topography, the hydrology, the ports, and the prospects.

Provenance: Ownership stamp of John Carter Brown on title-page; later in the John Carter Brown Library (bookplate); note at end “Collated with G.G. Church copy. July 31, 1912. dup.” Deaccessioned 2008.

Evidence of readership: Scattered marginalia in French through p. 50, almost invariably giving the French for obscure words and phrases in Spanish in the text. Perhaps owned by someone living in the Haitian area of the island?

 Beautiful facsimile of the London, 1624 edition, printed by offset lithography in Italy on specially made laid paper. The work is illustrated with reproductions of contemporary portraits and maps, and accompanied by a booklet containing a historical introduction by A.L. Rowse and bibliographical notes by Robert O. Dougan.

Binding: Publisher's vellum with cloth ties, front cover with gilt-stamped coat of arms of James I, spine with gilt-stamped title.

 Smith is remembered in art circles as a very accomplished water color artist and it was that work that attracted the attention of George Greville, second earl of Warwick. The earl became Smith's patron and sent him Italy where he produced such works as “Outside Porta Pia, Rome” (now in the Tate collection) and “Interior of the Coliseum” (now in the British Museum); “his Italian pictures . . . are considered Smith's best” (ODNB).

Toward the end of the 18th century (1792–1799), Smith produced the first edition of this work, laden with72 engravings (by various artisans) after his original watercolors. This second edition of his Select Views in Italy was not issued with a title-page, although some copies have a copy (reprinting?, remainder sheet?) of the first edition's; it begins instead with a splendidly calligraphicengraved dedication leaf reading, “Italian scenery. To the Queen's most Excellent Majesty this Collection of Select Views in italy is with Her Majesty's gracious permission Humbly dedicated by Her most obedient and devoted Servant, John Smith.” Dated in text 18 January 1817, the leaf was designed by Tomkins and engraved by Ashby; at its bottom, as on a title-page, is “London[,] J. Smith, W. Byrne, & J. Edwards.”

The text in this edition, bilingual inEnglish and French, is the same as that of the first edition; but it was entirely reset and the plates are restrikes of those of the first edition, with the original imprints removed and the numeration moved to the top of the plates. This is, therefore, a particularly interesting object toset beside an example of its first edition!

Provenance: No bookplates or inscriptions, but spine with initials “G.O.B.” tooled at base.

 Sole edition: Eleven Hungarian folk songs translated into singable English, with the music and lyrics accompanied by masonite relief cuts done by Dorian McGowan and printed in rose. Snodgrass has supplied an afterword explaining the songs' origins and offering performance suggestions.

The volume was printed for Charles Seluzicki, a poetry bookseller in Baltimore, MD, by Claire Van Vliet and Victoria Fraser at the Janus Press. This isnumbered copy 236 of 300 printed (of which 15 were hors commerce), signed at the limitation statement by Snodgrass.

 First edition. Based on lectures given at the Lowell Institute, this book reflects on the explorations made by (Marc) Aurel Stein in four expeditions to Central Asia that took him into Eastern Turkestan, westernmost China, and across the Hindu Kush and the Pamirs. His greatest triumph involveddiscovery of the world's oldest printed text, Diamond Sutra, dating to A.D. 868, plus 40,000 other scrolls. He received a knighthood for his efforts, which extended over 30 years.

Stein's account is accompanied by many illustrations, in both black and white and color. These include a color frontispiece, several fold-out panoramas, and a folding color map at rear, with all color illustrations having intact tissue guards.

Provenance: From the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

 Rust-brown publisher's cloth with gilt spine lettering and gilt medallion to front board, in an edgeworn, lightly soiled dust jacket with significant portions torn away at spine, smaller losses at corners/edges and price-clip, and two small stains to rear panel. Binding clean, with extremities bumped. Purple monogram ownership stamp to front free endpaper, p. 83, and a leaf in the index; text otherwise clean with upper corners lightly creased across and a few leaves unopened. Good, in a good- dust jacket that appears in most instances to be lacking entirely. (37601)

 First edition. A personal account of archaeologist (Marc) Aurel Stein's 1900–01 exploration of the ancient remains of Khotan and the great desert of Xinjiang, then known as Chinese Turkestan, the first of his great expeditions to Central Asia. Detailed here for a wider audience (not just antiquarian scholars) are the experiences, observations and discoveries of that journey, profusely illustrated with halftone illustrations andan attractively colored and intact folding map displaying the portions of Chinese Turkestan surveyed by Stein.

Stein made four expeditions to Central Asia; his greatest triumph (1907) was to involve the discovery of the world's oldest printed text, Diamond Sutra, dating to A.D. 868, plus 40,000 other scrolls. He received a knighthood for his efforts, which extended over thirty years.

Provenance: Bookplate of “John Edmond Heugh Balfour,” bearing the motto, “Adsit Deus”; Balfour was a captain of the 11th Hussars during World War I. Most recently in the library of American collector Albert A. Howard, small booklabel (“AHA”) at rear.

 Rust-brown publisher's cloth with gilt and black lettering and decoration to front board and spine, top edge gilt; minor rubbing to edges, bumped extremities, volume a bit cocked and paper (only) breaking across hinges inside. Bookplate on front pastedown as above. Tissue guard of frontispiece foxed without affecting plate; upper corners a little bumped, one page with light staining just along edge, and a handful of leaves unopened (one pair mis-opened, resulting in a long closed tear across one leaf). A very good copy of Stein's personal account of his first expedition. (37728)

AnAMERICANDissatisfiedwithNew-Granada

Steuart, John. Bogotá in 1836–7. Being a narrative of an expedition to the capital of New-Grenada, and a residence there of eleven months. New York: Pr. for the author by Harper & Bros., 1838. 8vo (cm). viii, [13]–312, [2] pp.$500.00

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 First edition of this travel account, in which Steuart describes his journey from New York to Bogotá and Carthagena. The author, who opens by debunking “Extravagant Ideas prevalent regarding South America” (p. 13), is highly critical of the local virtue, temperament, religious observances, apparel, and cuisine (complaining particularly of excessive cumin and garlic), reserving his praise primarily for the excellent chocolate. In his concluding remarks, he expresses much pessimism regarding any possibility of successful international commerce with the South American states.

 First edition with this title: A first-person account of an English soldier's life and career in America during the War of 1812, originally published in 1821 under the subtitle of this American edition. The work has been widely attributed to Georg Robert Gleig, but Sabin quotes Babcock as saying, “a careful examination of the volume . . . makes it perfectly clear that Gleig could not have written it.”

A pencilled annotation in one margin of this copy reads “The author is not aware that the people in the Southern States are not called Yankees”; one particularly anti-American remark later in the volume has been lined through in pencil.

 Sabin 27570; Howes S1115. Publisher's speckled sheep, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; covers sunned unevenly, edge/extremities rubbed, head of spine showing traces of now-absent label. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplate on front pastedown, front free endpaper lacking, pressure-stamp on title-page. Title-page with supposed author's name inked in upper margin. Waterstaining to lower outer corners of first few leaves; scattered spots of foxing and staining; one signature much browned, showing the different effects of time and “life” on different papers. (26376)

 First U.S. edition, following the first U.K. edition of the previous year: A Quaker merchant's account of his experiences in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia. Sutcliff, a manufacturer and dealer of cutlery, hailed from Sheffield, England; he travelled extensively in the United States for business, visiting Friends and meetinghouses almost everywhere he went. He did not originally intend this travelogue for publication, which is reflected in the sometimes casual descriptions of socializing with friends and relatives — but a great deal of substance is recorded here, including Sutcliff's thoughts on the then under-construction capitol, the state of both free and enslaved blacks (the writer is dismayed by the persistence of slavery in the U.S., and by its effects), American Quaker practices, Native American daily life as he witnessed it firsthand in New York state and elsewhere, various aspects of farming and commerce, and such small oddities as “children of five or six years of age . . . in their boots, smoking segars” (p. 88).

The volume opens with an attractive oversized, foldingsteel-engraved view of Niagara Falls, done by T.S. Woodcock after a painting by T. Cole.

 Howes S1145; NSTC S4417; Sabin 93943; Shaw & Shoemaker 26833. Contemporary tree sheep, recently rebacked with speckled calf, spine with gilt-stamped leather title-label; original leather rubbed with edges chipped, new endpapers. Mild to moderate age-toning and foxing throughout; title-page with inner margin repaired; three leaves with a lower corner or bit of margin torn away without approach to text. Scattered instances of early pencilled underlining and annotations. Interesting, sensitive observations from a writer concerned with both commercial and spiritual elements of life in the States; here in a very solid copy with the plate in beautiful condition. (36315)

 First U.S. edition, in an uncut copy in the original publisher’s binding. Emerson, who added the Tennent surname in 1831 and was knighted in 1845, here describes his travels through Greece and Turkey in “characteristic sketches of manners and scenery” (p. iii); a great supporter of Greek independence, he considered the present work more “picturesque than political” (ibid.).

The six pages of advertisements offer multiplereviews of the Harper works listed, not just publication information!

 Limited Editions Club production of Thoreau's first book, here introduced by Charles R. Anderson and illustrated with pencil-drawn illustrations done by R.J. Holden, printed in green. Robert Anderson, who designed the volume for R.L. Dothard Associates, was so delighted by the project that he took hiscanoe and retraced part of Thoreau's voyage before setting to work. The Stinehour Press printed the text, set in monotype Bell, on Strathmore paper; the Tapley-Rutter Company bound the book in half green buckram with green marbled paper–covered sides.

This isnumbered copy 733 of 2000 printed, signed at the colophon by Holden. The appropriate LEC newsletter and prospectus (in the original envelope) are laid in.

 Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club,488. Binding as above, spine ruled in gilt with gilt-stamped title, in textured paper–covered slipcase with green spine label; slipcase showing minimal shelfwear with one corner of spine label lifting, volume crisp and clean. A very nice copy. (36085)

 Tunstall was aBath booster big-time. A graduate of the University of Edinburgh, he was physician to the Eastern Dispensary of Bath and seven years resident medical officer of the Bath Hospital; his guide book to his city first appeared in 1847, with subsequent editions in 1848, 1851, 1856, 1876, 1888, 1889, and 1900. Besides the locale's follies, Roman ruins, chapels, farms, overlooks, etc., he offers considerable information on the hospitals, baths, and healing wells.

This would have beena definite must for hydrotherapy and other tourists. Nicely illustrated, it bears a great map.

Provenance: Ownership signature of Mrs. Edward Brown, Belmont House, 1884. (This may well be the Mr. & Mrs. E. Brown whose “Belmont House” dates from ca. 1880 and is located in Browns Cove, Albemarle County, VA).

Vandewater, Robert J. The tourist, or pocket manual for travellers on the Hudson River, the western canal, and stage road, to Niagara Falls. Comprising also the routes to Lebanon, Ballston, and Saratoga Springs. New York: Ludwig & Tolefree, 1831. 16mo (14.7 cm, 5.875"). 69, [7] pp., large folding map.$350.00

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 “It is believed that all the information required by tourists through this state, will be found in the pages of this work,” states this popular travel guide, here in its second edition after being first published the year prior. The route, illustrated with avery large fold-out map that follows the Hudson River from Staten Island to Saratoga Springs, begins in Philadelphia. In addition to historical notes, the guide includes helpful charts documenting up-to-date steamboat routes, lodging options, and rates of fare for hackney coaches. This copy also has four pages of Little & Cummings Booksellers advertisements for other maps and travel guides at the end of the text.

 Sabin 98485; American Imprints, 31-10470; Howes V-28. Green paper–covered boards with printed paper label on front cover, rebacked in tan cloth with new endpapers; covers well-rubbed and stained, spine slightly cocked. Light to moderate spotting and age-toning throughout; one leaf with small tear, map attached to new endpaper with one minor repair to border and pencil marking on back, strong at folds. An early version of an often reprinted travel guide, good and strong. (36009)

 Varenius (1622–50) was born in Germany, studied medicine, settled in Amsterdam, abandoned medicine to study geography and learn of the new discoveries being made by the Dutch explorers, and died young and impoverished.

This is the first edition of his first published work, a description of Japan, and is based on previously published and unpublished sources that were available to him thanks to his association with the Elzevir firm and friendship with Willem Blaeu. The second part of the work, “Descriptio regni Siam,” is a translation into Latin of J. Schouten's Beschrijvinge van de regeringe, macht, religie, coustuymen, traffijcquen, en andere remercquable saken, des koninghrycks Siam.

Both texts treat of religions, customs, political organization, society, and history.
As a
coda to the “Descriptio regni Siam,” pp. 225 to the end provide “Brevis informatio de diversis gentium religionibus,” including large sections on the religions of Africa and Asia (including China); a page on those of Mexico, Peru, and Chile; sections on ancient Greece and Rome; and pages on Russia, Armenia, and Islam.

The volume begins with an engraved title-leaf showing a royal audience chamber with many people kowtowing to the emperor, and, in another portion of the page, Asian scholars with a book and map.

 First English edition of L’Hermite en Italie, a sequel to Etienne de Jouy’s L’Hermite de la Chaussée d’Antin, ou observations sur les mœurs et les usages français. These engaging vignettes of travel experiences throughout Italy are interspersed with historical digressions as well as with personal anecdotes. A fourth volume later appeared in the original French, but was not yet available to be translated as part of this edition.

Many sources, including OCLC, attribute this work to de Jouy himself, but the Monthly Review of May, 1825 admits that the “similarity of title, of decorum, of form, and of manner,” as well as the title-page’s claim that this is a continuation of de Jouy’s work, all misled their reviewer and a number of others into that incorrect and much-perpetuated citation. The travelogue has more recently been attributed to Louet de Chaumont, among others, while Barbier and Quérard suggest that it may have been compiled by de Villemarest from de Chaumont’s notes and manuscripts.

 NSTC 2H18614. Publisher’s plain paper-covered boards, sometime rebacked with speckled paper and old printed paper labels laid on, the set now in a recent case with sides covered in blue cloth and speckled paper; extremities rubbed, covers with spots of discoloration, retained spine labels chipped and darkened. Front pastedowns each with institutional bookplate (no other markings). Hinges (inside) reinforced some time ago. Vol. II with one signature separated. Pages untrimmed and clean save for scattered small spots of foxing. A strong, agreeable set. (20256)

 Published the year he was executed, this isWalker's own account of his filibustering expedition to take over Nicaragua, after having failed to wrest Baja and Sonora from Mexico. Walker was a man who wanted his own country and did not let initial failure deter him. His attempt to take Nicaragua was successful at first but a combination of local resistance, the Costa Rican army, and mercenaries in the employ of Cornelius Vanderbilt (who viewed Walker as a threat to his own interests in Central America) brought about Walker's downfall.

After a brief respite back in the U.S., where he was welcomed as a hero, Walker, the quintessential filibusterer, returned to Central America wanting to capture Honduras. He died there trying.

The map (14" x 16") is in four colors and is titled “Colton's Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, San Salvador & Costa Rica.

 Publisher's brick colored textured cloth stamped in blind. Top and bottom of spine pulled and frayed. Some foxing at front and rear. Newspaper articles at front and rear of volume. Some added owner's notes about Walker on blanks. Clean. (21372)

APRINTER-Missionary in INDIA

Ward, William. Farewell letters to a few friends in Britain and America, on returning to Bengal, in 1821. New York: E. Bliss & E. White, 1821. 12mo. 250 pp.$275.00

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 Ward (1769–1823) was a printer and a missionary in Serampore, in the Bengal region of India. He learned printing in Derby, England, and in 1799 went to the Danish settlement in Serampore where he printed and supervised the printing of translations of the scriptures intoBengali, Tamil, and more than 20 other languages. He somehow also found time to preach and do other missionary work.

Health concerns forced him to leave India in 1818, but he returned in 1821. During his years away he lectured and travelled in the U.S. and England, raising money for his mission.

The present collection of letters first appeared in London in 1821 and this is its first American edition. His letters have much to say about his work and the native population; he is acutely aware ofthe position and treatment of women and in more than one letter addresses the issue.

Provenance: The Rochester Divinity School, which in the 19th century trained more than a few noteworthy missionaries to India.

 Shoemaker 7568. Original boards covered in blue-green paper; rebacked in the style of the era. Ex-library with 19th-century stamp on title and librarian's pencilling on verso of same. Foxing throughout. Uncut and partially unopened: a good, solid copy. (34989)

 First trade edition, following an issue of the same year privately printed for the author, here in an uncut copy in the original paper-covered boards. White, an American “of Savannah,” provides his impressions of British culture in London,Oxford, Birmingham, Leeds, Liverpool, and elsewhere in England — with many comparisons to the contemporary state of affairs in the United States.

 Shaw & Shoemaker 39807; Smith, Americans Abroad, W66. Contemporary paper-covered boards, spines with printed paper labels; darkened and worn, vol. I with covers detached and paper cracked over spine, vol. II with front joint open though presently holding Front pastedowns with bookplates of the Salem Library Company; vol. I with early inked inscriptions to endpapers and half-title. Light to moderate foxing, no other stains. (18430)

Whitefield, George. A journal of a voyage from London to Savannah in Georgia. In two parts. Part I. From London to Gibraltar. Part II. From Gibraltar to Savannah. [bound with the same author's] A continuation of the Reverend Mr. Whitefield's journal from his arrival at Savannah, to his return to London. London: Pr. for James Hutton, 1739. 8vo. [2] ff., 38 pp., [1] f. London: Pr. for James Hutton, 1739. 8vo. 55, [1 (blank)] pp.$2000.00

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 George Whitefield (1714–70), a Calvinist preacher who had also been an early follower of the Wesleys during the nascent years of Methodism, was a prime mover in the Great Awakening in the English colonies in American during the second quarter of the 18th century. The present works recount his travel to and in Georgia in aid of the Wesleys' efforts there; the Continuation offers half a dozen pages speaking to time spent in Ireland.

Fifth edition of the Voyage from London and second edition of the Continuation.

Whitworth, Charles Whitworth, Baron. An account of Russia as it was in the year 1710. [Twickenham]: Printed at Strawberry-Hill, 1758. Small 8vo (18 cm; 7.25"). xxiv, 158, [2] pp.$825.00

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 First edition and sole Strawberry Hill edition; second and third editions appeared from other publishers in 1761 and 1771. As handsomely printed a work as one would expect of Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill press, this bears a title-page offering an engraved vignette of Strawberry Hill and presents Walpole's account of the author and his assessment of the Account as an “Advertisement” occupying pp. [iii]–xxiv. The errata appear on the last leaf. Limited to 700 copies.

Whitworth was perhaps the most effective English ambassador to Russia in the first half of the 18th century. His Account was originally written for the foreign office and remained in manuscript till Walpole printed it. The DNB (on-line) writes of it, “Succinct and perceptive, it was a survey of Petrine Russia which held its readership through to the century's end and beyond.”

Horace Walpole (1717–97), the 4th earl of Orford, is best remembered as the author of the Gothic novel The Castle of Otranto. Among bibliophiles he is also remembered for his private press, variously known as the Officina Arbutana or the Strawberry Hill Press. Walpole's almost fantastic wealth allowed him the connoisseur's luxury of maintaining this noble enterprise, which he operated in the arena of the rebirth of fine printing in Great Britain that was being carried on by the Foulis brothers, Baskerville, and others.

 First edition of this series of lighthearted letters written in
and about the valley of the Susquehanna, near Owego, New York. An author of
notable but ephemeral fame, Willis came from a talented family: His grandfather
published newspapers in both the north and south of the U.S., his father founded
the Youth's Companion (the first newspaper specifically for children),
his sister enjoyed much literary success under the pen name Fanny Fern, and
his brother Richard Stolls Willis was a music critic and composer known for
hymns including“It Came upon the Midnight Clear.”

Willis himself was the founder of the magazine that became the Home Journal,
and was celebrated in his day for his essays and travel writings as well as
several collections of his journalistic work. The Cambridge History of
American Literature calls him the “prince of magazinists,”
and remarks on “the evanescent sparkle and glancing brilliance”
of A L'abri, later known as Letters from under a Bridge. These
charming, witty essays touch on Willis's Yale education (and its lack of practical
application!); fishing; a dinner with Lady Blessington, Benjamin Disraeli,
Count D'Orsay, and Lord Durham; the possibility of local railroad construction
to connect the Hudson with Lake Erie; the relationship of American to British
literature, etc. Whatever the ostensible topics of the individual letters,
each touches in affectionate and amusing fashion on some aspect of life in
the Susquehanna region.

A publishing practice, demonstrated: Bound
in at the back of this volume are yellow printed paper wrappers for John
Smith's Letters, and the title-page and preface for Fireside Education
— both items published by Colman in the same year as the present work.

Wilson, William, ed. & illus. A missionary voyage to the southern Pacific Ocean, performed in the years 1796, 1797, 1798, in the ship Duff, commanded by Captain James Wilson. Compiled from journals of the officers and the missionaries; and illustrated with maps, charts, and views ... London: Pr. by S. Gosnell for T. Chapman, 1799. 4to (28.5 cm, 11.25"). [12], c, 420, [12] pp.; 7 fold. maps, 6 plts.$2000.00

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 First edition. This account of a mission to Polynesia and Tahiti (funded by the London Missionary Society) supplies, it must be said, much more by way of the missionary travellers' interested observations of lands and people's exotic to them than it does reports of the proselytizations they pursued; it was compiled by chief mate William Wilson from his own journals and those of Captain James Wilson. Dr. Thomas Haweis, co-founder of the London Missionary Society, edited the work and the Rev. Samuel Greatheed provided (anonymously) the “Preliminary discourse; containing a geographical and historical account of the islands where missionaries have settled, and of others with which they are connected.” The Hill catalogue says, “The narrative is fresh, although sometimes naive, and provides a glimpse of everyday life on the islands that the mariner or naturalist didn't consider worth reporting.” There is a most interesting Appendix, also, canvassing everything from native dress to houses to dances to cookery to canoes to marriage and the place of women to funeral customs — not forgetting human sacrifice and sports.

The volume is illustrated with six plates and seven oversized, folding maps, and includes an extensive list of subscribers. An inferior, less expensive edition appeared in the same year, printed by Gillet; the present example is sometimes identified as the Gosnell edition to distinguish it from the Gillet production.

 ESTC T87461; Hill, Pacific Voyages, 1894; Sabin 49480. Contemporary reverse sheep, framed and panelled in blind, spine with leather title-label; leather peeling at extremities, front joint repaired and back one starting from head, spine with label rubbed and two compartments discolored. Hinges (inside) reinforced with cloth tape; front free endpaper lacking. Front pastedown with institutional bookplates; dedication leaf with pressure-stamp in upper margin and rubber-stamped numeral in lower margin. Title-page and dedication with offsetting to margins; title-page with small hole not touching text. First map foxed, with tears along two folds; sixth map with jagged tear along one inner corner; other maps lightly foxed. Occasional stray small spots of staining and some offsetting from plates onto opposing pages; a few page edges slightly ragged.In sum, in fact, a sound, clean, and pleasant volume. (19603)

Correspondence in the Dutch Golden Age. New YorkReverts to English Control

 As an influential Dutch statesman, Johan de Witt (1625–72) corresponded with a variety of important people throughout his life. This six-volume collection of his international correspondence with numerous statesmen spans 17 years.

The first volume contains letters to and from William Boreel, the Dutch Ambassador to France, as well as Coenraet Van Beuningen, a director of the Dutch East India Company and experienced diplomat. Vol. II contains more van Beuningen letters as well as correspondence with Pieter de Groot, the Dutch Ambassador to Sweden and later Dutch Ambassador to France. The third volume offers letters to and from Willem Nieupoort, the Dutch Ambassador to England who helped negotiate the Treaty of Westminster which provided for the return of the colony of New Netherland to England. Vol. IV contains correspondence with diplomats L. de Nassau, S. van Hoorn, M. van Gogh, Johan Meerman, and Johan Boreel. The fifth volume contains chiefly letters exchanged with van Beuningen, plus some correspondence with Nanningh Kaiser, a diplomat in Denmark; Govert van Slingelandt, Dutch Ambassador to the Republic of Prussia, Sweden, Poland, and eventually Denmark; Pieter Vogelsangh, Dutch Ambassador to the kings of Sweden and Denmark; and Frederick van Dorp, Dutch Ambassador to the kings of Sweden and Poland. Vol. VI contains more correspondence with van Slingelandt and Vogelsangh, plus P. de Hubert, W. van Haeren, I. van den Honert, J. Ysbrants, N. Heyns, and G. van Reede van Ameronge. An important work for the Dutch in America and the East Indies.

 Goldsmiths'-Kress 6182; STCN 20487306. Not in Alden & Landis, European Americana. Blind-tooled vellum over boards, spines with raised bands, blind decoration, and hand-written lettering; covers with double-ruled borders and central panels containing an arabesque medallion; all edges speckled red. Boards generally slightly bowed with mild rubbing; all but one volume with corner of front free endpaper excised where probably there were ownership markings. Light to moderate age-toning with the occasional spot; some page corners bumped; paper lost to corner of plate leaf in vol. I (a duplicate of the plate in vol. III), not touching image. A well-kept and illuminating compilation of writings from some of the most influential men of the Dutch Golden Age. (35974)

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